Kara E. McCloskey

Kara E. McCloskey is a Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the School of Engineering, University of California, Merced. She chairs the Graduate Program in Biological Engineering and Small-scale Technologies (BEST) and Materials and Biomaterials Science and Engineering (MBSE).

• B.S. in Chemical Engineering (ChE), Ohio State University, 1996
• M.S. in Chemical Engineering (ChE), Ohio State University, 1999
• Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering (Joint Program with Ohio State University and Cleveland Clinic Foundation), 2001
• NRSA Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgia Institute of Technology, 2001-2005

Her research focuses on tissue engineering, stem cell differentiation, and regenerative medicine applications. She investigates cardiovascular cell lineage development and aims to expand into other cell systems for therapeutic interventions.

Her lab trains graduate students in advanced tissue engineering and cell therapy projects, including vascular patterning, tumor microenvironment interactions, and biomaterials development.

Current Graduate Students:

• Jose Zamora (MBSE, NSF-CREST Fellow) - studies vasculogenesis and mechanotransduction
• Maria Mendoza (Quantitative and Systems Biology, GEM Fellow) - angiogenesis in cancers
• Shiwani Limbu (Quantitative and Systems Biology) - tumor-immune interactions in angiogenesis
• Metzli Montero (MBSE) - vascularized lung tissue models
• Hoda Zadeh (MBSE) - vascular matrix characterization

Contact: Science and Engineering Building, Rm 344, 5200 N Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95343 | Phone: (209) 228-7885